Children Financial Literacy

 Children Financial Literacy.

"Teach them the way they should go they will never depart from it".

You must have heard the story of Jack, the boy who wants to buy medicine called 'Miracle'. Perhaps you have not, let me quickly relay it for you to get yourself familiar with the narrative.

Jack had an elder brother who was diagnosed with a rare medical condition. The parents had taken James to various medical facilities without any better chance of overcoming the challenges of his medical condition.

Returning home one afternoon with another disappointing news of no solution yet; Jack's dad reported, " it will only take a miracle for James to survive this condition" said the only doctor who is willing to risk conducting the surgery to correct the medical condition of James. It requires a lot of money and here I am without any money.

Jack on the other hand, is missing the company of his brother who was is playmate. He had wish that his brother will be home for the normal play to continue. However, here comes the news for the need of a "Miracle" to have him out of the hospital. Quickly he dashed under his bed brings out his small piggy bank and ran outside as quick as he can to the nearest pharmacy in their environment, seeking to buy "Miracle", the medicine for his brother health condition.

After many persuasion and pleading he got the pharmacist attention and explained the situation to him. 'Here sir, I have N1,600, I want to buy Miracle the medicine for my brother illness'. The pharmacist explain to this boy of 7, that there is no such medicine as "Miracle". Jack insisted " Sir I have money to pay for the medicine, I can always get more if the money is not enough,  kindly help me so that my brother will get well. 

As they were arguing on this, a young man walked in and said, I have heard you plea with the pharmacist, I know where they sell "Miracle", go and call your parents I will take you all there.

The boy did, and James was back at home. The young man pay for the surgery and it was successful.

Now, Jack knows the value of money. At 7, he must have been thought by his parents the need to use money in exchange for goods and services. What about you? are you teaching your children the culture of wealth creation.

Our parents were not born rich, likewise ourselves, but we must not allow the generational poverty to persist, we must break the circle of lack that is preventing us to take hold of our destiny. The philosopher says, train a child the way he should go when he is old he will not depart from it". Are we teaching our children financial education?

Today's children are tech savvy, media savvy and well acquainted with how to operate in a modern world, but one area in which many of them lack skills is financial literacy. Therefore as parents what should we do?....... Educate them.  How?

Let them into your source.

Most of us do not share information concerning our work with our children. Information concerning where we work, what we do, and how we earn our livings we do not share with them. We believe they are too small to understand. Please let them in, on your source, it gives them that firsthand information that you work to earn money, which is the first thing in financial education. If you have the opportunity to take them to your place of work, please do as this is an education in itself. Your office end of the year party, if children are welcome,  kindly take them along.  It is a place where they mingle and know that their parents earns a living working.

Engaged them in financial activities around the house.

 You don't have to hand over your purse to teach kids about money, but you absolutely should talk them through basic, everyday transactions and purchases. This way, you can help make money a tangible item rather than an abstract concept. Let them watch you analyse your expenses. Talk them through how to use the ATM (Automated Teller Machine). Coach them on proper ATM card use at a POS (Point-Of-Sale) terminals. Every moment in which you're spending money, mapping out your expenses budget,  or making plans to save for a purchase, these are teachable moment take advantage of it. Moreover, give them money to buy you groceries in your immediate environments. While you go for shopping let them see you paying for the items bought. These are avenue where you can teach them the value of money.

 Encourage savings using Competition.

"Because saving is good for you" is NOT the argument you make to a  young Child who had just been blessed by a visiting uncle  with N1,000. That money is as good as gone if you don't find a way to let him know where his piggy bank is. Children are more likely to build and stick with a good habit if they practice it for at least two to three months. So make it fun by giving reward or offering some other incentive for saving money. For example, you could decide to give N500 additional to every N1,000 saved. Or your competition could be as simple as awarding a certain amount saved with a small treat or activity. 

Teach them Banking.

These days, Hardly will you carry out any transactions without a bank account, if you want to receive money from a distance uncle, aunt of family members the easiest way to do so is for transfer to be made into your bank account. Therefore, educate you children the importance of having a bank account. Tell them the roles the bank play in economic activities. Explain to them in a simple term the need to have a bank account and how such an account will enhance their financial education.

Teach them Entrepreneurship.

Nowadays, as parents we need to understand the special gift our children are endowed with. Therefore, we need to study them and have a firsthand information about Skills they are developing. These God embedded gifts and skills can be explore for the benefits of the whole family. Recently, I watch this 5 years old drummer boy on Steve Harvey show. The boy was so good at what he does and he had become an Ambassador that schools are competing to enroll him for free. He earned himself a life scholarship to any level of education just for playing drums. In this part of the world we still believe education is all about acquiring certificates, it will only earn us white-collar jobs. The real thing is skill acquisition. Study the area you noticed they are showing interest and encourage them.

Build them up Technologically.

The key thing now is technology, develop your children technology capability, work them around the information technology gadget. You don't need to encourage them in this aspect you only need to provide for them the enable environment to thrive. The desire is there, all they need are tools to show their capabilities. Drop your smart phone with your children and experience the exploration that will take place. They possess an exploration desire that makes them learn new things everyday.

Be their mentor.

Finally, do not do all these and abandoned them, monitor, supervise, correct don't condemned, enlightened don't compare, build their self-esteem don't destroy it. Our children are our tomorrow, be their friends, their best friend, their very, very best friend and you will learn new things financial and non financial everyday.

Thanks for reading GBWU.

juwonpat@gmail.com.